Blast From Guild's Past
by dragonslayer-3.14159
Summary: An unfamiliar newcomer joins the guild and carries ghosts from her past with her. How will the guild, and especially Gray see their new guild mate? And how does her haunted past intertwine with Fairy Tail and with one member in particular ...?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: **I do not own any rights to Fairy Tail or anything related to Fairy Tail**

**This story takes place a little while before the whole thing with Laxus and the Lightning Palace as I also rewrite the Fighting Festival Arc to fit in the new character.**

**How will Fairy Tail, more specifically Gray, see the guilds newest member?**

**A New Face**

Gray and Natsu were in the middle of their usual squabble when the doors to the guild opened everyone turned to see a complete stranger walk through the door. She was slender and curvy. She was kind of petite with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and a long side sweep that covered most of her face. She looked to be around eighteen the average age in the guild.

She walked by in complete silence with her head down keeping her face hidden from view. She was a complete stranger to everyone except the master who showed a small flicker a recognition when she entered. Makarov jumped off the counter he was sitting on, looked at the mysterious girl, and walked into a backroom indicating her to follow.

Only Gray caught a glimpse of her face as she passed. His breathe hitched at how beautiful she was. She had crystal blue eyes that looked as cold as ice yet so compassionate at the same time. She had very cute yet refined features and could see a slight scar on the left side of her face where her straight gold locks covered the majority of her face.

She followed the master into the back room as everyone in the guild went back to their usual business… everyone except Grey who kept staring at the door the girl had closed behind her. So many questions running through his mind : Who was she? How does she know our master? Is she a mage?

Gray stood motionless not taking his eyes off the door still thinking about the girl when Natsu punched him in the shoulder. Gray didn't feel like starting the fight up again so he just sat down in the nearest booth causing Natsu to sit confused across from him.

"Yo, Gray What's up?" asked the pink haired boy.

Gray looked up "Who was that girl?"

"I dunno but gramps seems to know her."

Just as Natsu finished his sentence the door to the backroom opened and Makarov walked out followed by the girl.

Gray looked closely at the girl something seemed slightly different. That's when he noticed the newly placed red Fairy Tail mark located on the left side of her neck. Gray's eyes widened as the old man started to speak.

"Everyone I'd like you to welcome the newest member of Fairy Tail, Jade Lileander!"

when he finished the introduction she looked up as everyone else looked at her face and noticed what Gray had before she walked in with their master. Speaking of the old man he seemed to beaming with joy like she was his own daughter.

"I hope you accept me as part of your guild." Jade smiled as she spoke for the first time. Her voice wasn't as high as Lucy's but no where near as low as Erza's, it sounded very melodic, smooth and calming.

With those words the guild erupted in excitement as some of the other members went up to introduce themselves.

As the energy died down Jade slipped away and sat quietly at the bar as Mirajane tried to chat her up without success. Finally the perky white haired girl walked away disappointed at the lack of information she was able to extract from the newcomer. Gray sat himself at one of the spots a few stools away.

Both Gray and Jade sat there in complete silence glancing at each other at different times now and then. At that moment both looked to the side at the same time causing the two to look directly into the others eyes. They held each others gaze for a good three seconds before they both turned away in embarrassment, both blushing.

After letting the blush subside Gray stood up and walked out. As he walked out of the guild to get some air he had subconsciously taken off his shirt but he didn't notice. When Gray had walked far enough from the guild he stopped and leaned against the nearest building. What was that all about?

"Why did some girl have that effect on me?" He thought out loud.

He stood there in silence racking his brain for answers but nothing came to mind.

After a while of thinking to himself Gray got up and decided to walk to the park. He was extremely curious about this newcomer and really wanted some of his questions answered. He could ask gramps but knowing him he'd tell you to ask her for the information on your own.

As he kept walking the final question came to his mind. The question was simple.

Jade, who are you?


	2. Chapter 2

Closer

It had been a couple of weeks since the strange new girl showed up but nothing had changed with her, she was still quiet and kept to herself.

She had a routine: She would come in everyday and eat in a secluded corner of the guild, then she would read her book for a few hours then go home. Although once a week she would take a job and wouldn't return for a few days.

One strange habit she had was she wouldn't come in at all on certain days. But Laxus was usually there when she wasn't, so there was never a dull moment.

She wasn't very social and many guild members would try to befriend her without any luck. Seeing her alone Master Makarov would occasionally get a worried look on his face but would always leave her be.

One day Gray decided to take a crack at getting to know the real Jade.

She was sitting at a table pushed against the wall picking at the omelette on her plate. Gray got up and walked toward her table. Others watching looked up then went back to their business mumbling "Good luck" under their breathes as Gray Passed.

He plopped into the chair directly across from her. Jade looked up from her food and stared at him with piercing blue eyes.

Gray smiled "Hi my name's Gray Fullbuster" He awkwardly held out his hand across the table.

Jade put down her fork and shook his hand gently without saying a word. Her small delicate hand looked so fragile in Gray's battle worn grasp.

She continued to just silently look at him with intent eyes.

"I see you come and go on jobs and was wondering if I could join you on one?" Gray directly came out and said.

Jade's eyes grew wide with shock due to the straightforwardness of Gray's request. Nobody had quite asked her to do anything yet alone go on a job with her.

She just sat there with her eyes wide and mouth slightly open before she could collect herself and answer.

"Well I-I guess if y-you want to. Sure." She stammered unsure of herself.

Gray just looked at her for a second wondering how a voice so smooth and absolute could possibly hesitate.

"Well great I look forward to it. You can choose the job and I'll just tag along." He replied quickly smirking with satisfaction at achieving the thing his guild mates were unsuccessful at.

"Actually I was planning to go out tomorrow on a bandit hunting job. We'll have to take out a band of no more than twenty or so thieves, it shouldn't be that difficult." She spoke with her regular demeanour.

_Twenty thieves! And she was planning on going alone! _Thought Gray.

"Sure. Sounds like fun." Gray responded.

"We'll be going to a small village a few towns away from Magnolia and we'll probably be staying there a few nights. So meet at the train station around 8 o'clock-ish and we can probably make it there at a little past noon and get a head start on things." Jade explained.

"Awesome you can count me in." Gray spoke as he got up to leave noticing the still emotionless girl as she waved a little good bye.

Gray took a few steps away but stopped and looked back.

"I'll see you then Jade!" He spoke just loud enough for people to look up from what they were doing and focus their attention on the black haired boy who had not yet failed but not yet succeeded in cracking the girl's defences.

Jade snapped her head up at the sound of her name as Gray looked over his shoulder. As small expression of pleasure flashed across her face at hearing her name called out loud, but was quickly replaced by a look of confusion. Gray looked down to see he had subconsciously taken of his clothes and stripped to his underwear.

"Ah, crap not again!"

Gray quickly tried to cover up by putting his clothes back on, but not before receiving a good laugh out of the guild and a surprising a little chuckle out of the petite blonde sitting a short ways away. He looked back at her temporarily forgetting about his current lack of clothes and took a little bliss in the fact he was able to make her laugh. Seeing her happy and smiling kind of made his heart flutter. Gray was quickly snapped back into reality by a very ticked off looking Erza.

"Uh sorry Erza I can't help it, just please don't hurt me." he managed to stammer out. and cringed at the feeling of her hand on his shoulder, but was shocked to find her leaning in to whisper in his ear...

"You have got to tell me how you sort of got through to the new girl. We've been trying to get her to loosen up since she got here. The Master has been worried about her and will be glad to hear she's becoming a bit more social."

Gray breathed a sigh of relief as Erza backed away and took her hand off his shoulder.

"It was easy. Don't worry I'll get more out of her tomorrow, we're going out on a job together."

"Really! And all it took was less than a day? You're good."

"Thank you." Gray said a little taken aback by the compliment.

At that Erza backed up and walked away. Gray then went to sit back with Lucy and Natsu to tell them about his accomplishment, but not before stealing a glance of the blue eyed mage staring back at him. They quickly shared a smile and went back to their business.

Gray sat down with the dragon slayer and celestial mage.

He couldn't help but feel pleased that he had gotten just a little bit closer.


	3. Chapter 3

Walls

The next day Gray sure as hell wasn't going to be late so he got up, readied his things, and put on his long white coat, he was off for the train station a full hour before the expected time.

Gray was there in almost no time at all and propped himself against a pole at the station and waited for his travelling companion.

_7:18_

_Just waiting ..._

_7:34_

_Getting really bored ..._

_7:47_

_Regretted coming this early ..._

_7:58_

_Getting apprehensive. Maybe she wasn't coming, maybe she wasn't up for a job today? ..._

_8:13_

_That's it She's probably not coming. Going home._

As Gray reached down to pick up his things he noticed a small, slim figure walking toward him.

_Phew. She's here._

He picked up his bag and walked toward her. She was dressed very casually in a pair of white shorts and a loose red tank top, with a modest backpack, which was very different from her usual attire at the guild. She usually wore a skirt and collared shirt, wonder why she would dress differently to the guild? It wasn't really the place to be formal.

He gave a little wave. She looked back with a look of relief on her face as if happy he actually showed up as she waved back.

"Hey, you're finally here!" Gray shouted as she got a little bit closer

"Sorry I was kind of late. I ran into that pink haired guy from the guild. Man is he annoying!" she said with an exasperated sigh.

At that Gray laughed so hard he almost fell down.

"Ya, that's Natsu alright. He's always kind of like that."

"Really? Yikes how do people deal with it?"

"Well Erza uses force, aggression, and violence, I kind of just fight with him about it, and Lucy ... I don't know how she does it but she has a weird affect on him."

"Wow he sounds like trouble."

"He is... By the way you seem a lot more easy going and casual than before?"

"Ya ... well the guild just kind of does that to me." she replied solemnly as she looked down.

Seeing that it did have something to do with the guild Gray was extremely curious and considered asking about it, but seeing the look on her face decided against it decided against.

"It obviously makes you uncomfortable so I won't ask."

"Thanks. You'll probably find out eventually, but until that time I would prefer we avoid the subject."

"No problem ... shall we get going then?"

She looked up and smiled sweetly causing Gray's heart to thump just a little harder.

_She's cute when she's happy like that. _Gray thought to himself.

"Ya let's get out of here."

They walked to where the train had just come rushing in and got onto one of the many cars. They sat across from each other in one of the little areas.

"So, what topics of conversation do we not have to avoid?" At this Jade just shrugged.

"Ok ... well what type of magic do you use? You've been at the guild a while now and I don't think anyone knows what you can do."

"Oh well I am what people call a tri-elemental mage, I work with three different element type magics as the name implies."

Gray listened with fascination.

"I have a main element, which is probably my strongest but also the most uncontrollable. I've been working hard on learning how to utilize it properly but it's been hard, especially since my teacher and mentor is no longer here to help me."

She said the last sentence with great sorrow in her voice.

"I'm afraid to ask but what happened to your teacher?" asked Gray

" She died years ago, she was killed right in front of my eyes. She died right before the rest of them disappeared."

"The rest of them ...?"

"The dragons."

Gray's eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open trying to say something but no sound came out.

Jade continued "She was a young dragon but she was very wise. Her name was Zellnar. She raised me because my parents died in a rough thunder storm when I was a baby."

Gray snapped out of his stammer and replied "So you're a - a - a dragon slayer?"

"Ya, I guess"

"You know Natsu, the annoying pink haired fire breather is also a dragon slayer?"

"Really? I didn't know that. Is he any good at actually using his magic?"

"Don't tell him I said this, but ... ya, he's pretty powerful and very destructive so sometimes his powers aren't put to the best use."

At this Jade laughed.

"You were talking about yourdragon teacher." Gray veered back on track intrigued to hear more.

"Well, Zellnar taught me to use my main element most, but without her here I'm afraid of loosing control so I use my secondary magics even if they aren't my most powerful."

"So what are your elements?"

"You'll find out my secondary elements on the job but we'll have to leave the main one for another time." She said a lot happier than before.

"Well I can't wait to see you in action."

"What about you? I believe, from what I've heard Natsu screaming at you when you fight, that you're an ice mage? You also tend to unknowingly strip to your undies." Jade pointed to Gray's lack of pants.

"Danmit!" Gray groaned as he reached down to pull his pants back on. Jade snickered and looked back at him. Gray smiled and explained.

"Ya well you see it's the way my teacher taught me to withstand the cold, she would make me strip in freezing weather conditions like snow and such."

"Sounds like fun." Jade said sarcastically.

"Well it sucked at the time but now I am completely unfazed by the cold, even if it did leave me with this unconscious stripping habit."

The two mages sat there talking and laughing for pretty much the entire ride. Gray learned the girl wasn't really a social outcast and didn't put up walls to keep people out. It seemed the guild naturally had those walls up for her.


	4. Chapter 4

The More You Learn

The two mages stepped off the train and onto a tiny platform. They took a few moments to scan their surroundings. It was an extremely small station fringed with thick green forest.

Jade pulled a map out of her backpack and looked at it for a moment before saying anything.

"Let's see the village we're heading to is about an hour hike west of the station ... so that way." she pointed slightly to her left where a small pathway had been worn into the ground from years of use.

"Well let's get started then shall we." replied Gray

For the first fifteen minutes or so into the long trek they were silent just enjoying the warm sun and green surroundings as well as each others company. They walked in comfortable quietude before Gray broke the silence with an interesting question.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Uhh, uh uhhhh." was all she managed to say before tripping on a tree root and almost falling flat on her face, but was just saved when Gray caught her around the waist from behind as she was a foot from the ground.

"Wow there, don't hurt yourself." but was secretly ecstatic just holding onto her for a few moments.

At the physical contact Jade turned beet red but couldn't help the smile that slowly crept onto her face.

"Well the answer to your question is .. no I don't have a ... boyfriend. Why?"

"No reason." He quickly answered before pulling her onto her feet, letting go and looking away with a blush on his face.

"Well What about you? Do you have a Girlfriend. I mean it seems that girl with the blue hair from the guild seems to have a thing for you..."

"What? Juvia? No way. Nothing has happened and nothing ever will."

"Why not?"

"She's a nice girl and all but she's obsessive and she doesn't really want to get to know me in that way... She just likes what she sees in a sense so she doesn't really understand me ... for well me. I guess. either way there's really no chance."

"Hhmm. That kind of makes sense."

"Ya, well what ever ... so have you ever _had _a boyfriend then?"

"Ya, actually. It was a really long time ago and we were so young but believe it or not I think it was still love. He probably doesn't even remember me though ..." She said with a sigh as she reached up to lightly touch the scar on the side of her face.

Gray looked at her with curiosity and disappointment that there was still so much to this girl he hadn't even come close to knowing yet.

"So, you gonna tell me your specific powers yet?" Gray said in hopes to lighten the mood.

Jade's face lit up as she smiled. Seeing this, again, Gray's stomach did a little flip. _God Damnit! what is with this feeling? _Gray Thought.

"Nope, you're just going to have to wait." poking at his chest with each word.

"Awww, please stop teasing and just tell me." Gray replied as they continued walking.

The conversation for the rest of the hike was a happy one so it went by fairly quickly.

The two made their way through a little break in the dense forest trees and walked into a small clearing where a small village resided.

"Wow. this place is so small what exactly is there to steal?" Gray was the first to speak.

"Well the village is known for mining really rare gemstones so the reward for this job is pretty high at 200,000 jewels."

"Seriously? awesome."

"Oh ya we haven't talked about that yet. So I guess we'll just split the reward 50 - 50."

"Sure, doesn't really matter to me."

Jade walked up to one of the huts that clearly housed the head of the tiny town and knocked on the door.

"Hello, we're the Fairy Tail mages here for the capture of the bandits mission!" She yelled through the door.

A small elderly woman answered the door.

"Really? I'll still need to see your marks for proof." The little lady said.

"Of course." Jade answered as she moved her hair slightly aside so the woman could get a clear look at the red mark on her neck.

"Very good, and you young man." She turned to Gray.

Jade looked behind her to see Gray lift up his navy shirt to show the blue mark on his chest. Her eyes widened and locked onto Gray's chiselled and exposed torso as her mouth hung slightly open. _Wow nice body!_ she thought. Gray looked at her expression and smirked but didn't say a word with fear of making things awkward as he put his shirt down.

"Very well, you two come in." The old lady spoke with a smile on her face jolting Jade out of her trance. They both followed the lady into the home.

The three walked into a small room with two couches facing across from each other.

"Just sit here while I go get the head of the house."

The two Fairy Tail mages just nodded in response and sat down on one of the couches. Gray leaning back with his arms resting on the back of the couch and Jade sat with her hands in her lap, looking down.

"Just relax will you. What are you so tense about?" Gray asked Jade, who sat right beside him.

"I don't know I'm just not great with meeting people ... I'm kind of shy if you haven't noticed. I haven't really made any friends at the guild yet."

"Ya you have. I'm here aren't I?"

Jade looked Gray square in the eye and gave him a little side smile just as a small old man approximately the age of 70 walked in.

"Hope I haven't kept you youngsters waiting?"

"Nope not at all." Jade quickly stuttered out as she looked away from Gray and scooted a little ways away from him on the couch much to both of their disappointments.

"Well I'll give you the details of the job and you may begin."

The two guild mates nodded in agreement.

"So we've been having trouble with bandits stealing the gems we mine. They come every night just after dark. All we need you to do is capture them before they manage to take anymore."

"Basically we have to wait around here till dark and capture this band of thieves. And how many guys are we talking about here?" asked Gray.

"There are twenty or so but we've noticed only half of them can actually fight."

"We have to capture twenty guys?" Gray said with mild surprise. Knowing Jade this is probably what she normally did.

"Yep. So just hang around the village till they get here, you should be fine."

"Great we'll get it done." Jade said as everyone stood up. She and Gray walked out of the door as the old man went back upstairs.

"We have to wait till after dark? how long will that take?" Gray asked as he turned toward Jade.

"Well we got here earlier that expected so it's just a little after noon."

"Aw man it's going to be so boring waiting for that long."

"Maybe not. It's a beautiful day and the scenery is unreal. We should just relax till the time comes."

"I guess that's true ... by the way, did you really expect to take on this job by yourself, it seems like quite a task?" asked Gray

"Ya. I'm not at all as weak as one might think. Hell I was on an even more dangerous mission just last week where I had to take out an entire base of dark guild members."

"Well I'm still extremely curious as to what you can do."

"You won't have to wait too much longer. Only till dark." She said with a mischievous grin. "Anyway let's just rest and relax for a bit." Jade spoke and they walked up a small hill as dropped her bag on the ground and sat down in the grass. Gray did the same with his, took of his white coat and shirt (Purposefully this time) and lay down just a few feet away from her.

"You're right this is nice." Gray admitted as he slid his eyes closed. Jade looked at him and smiled.

"Hey I just noticed something?" Jade remarked.

"Really what?" Gray said his eyes still closed.

"interesting..."

"What is it?" But before Gray got an answer he opened his eyes to Jade hovering above his face and the feeling of a small finger grazing over his forehead.

"You have a scar right here." She said as she continued to brush her finger over the top of his forehead.

Gray just enjoyed her touch for a few more moments before saying anything.

"Oh ya. My scar."

"How'd you get it?"

"Long story short I got it in a serious fight between me and my mentors other student ... my fellow pupil I guess."

"Wow."

"Ya and I noticed you have one too." As Gray sat up and brought his fingers up to the scar on the left side of her delicate face hidden by the curtain of hair that he brushed to the side. _She beautiful. I don't know why she hides it? _Thought Gray.

"Ya I got it when I was really young." She said as sadness found it's way into her eyes.

"I told how I got mine, so how'd you get yours?" Gray asked determined to get more information out of her.

"I got it when me and my ... friend -"

"You mean your little boyfriend from when you were little."

"Ya." She swallowed.

"We were experimenting with our magic we had just recently learned. I was playing with the magic I still don't know how to control and he with his. It got out of hand and we couldn't contain it... his got me and mine got him. I got off with this little scar, but what I had done to him..." Her words drenched in sorrow. "The scar he ended up with was much worse. He forgave me and still loved me but I could never forgive myself."

"I'm sure he would tell you the same thing right now if he were here." Gray tried to comfort her.

"Probably." She said with a smile.

Gray lightly dragged his finger over the zigzagged scar. As he did so Jade closed her eyes and shivered. At this Gray quickly took his finger away.

"Oh I'm so sorry! Does it hurt?" Gray apologized.

"No not at all, It's just sensitive skin."

"Ok then." He said as he yawned lying back down in the grass. Jade kicked off her sandals and lay down beside him as they both closed their eyes and drifting of into a light sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The Job

Gray opened his eyes to see Jade sleeping on her side in the grass beside him. He looked at her and just studied her expression. Her eyes were closed and her mouth just the slightest bit open, her chest rising and falling with each breath. She looked peaceful and vulnerable. Gray had to resist the urge to wrap his arms around her with fear she might break she looked so delicate. He sat up and looked around. The sky had darkened and clouded over. He had obviously been asleep for a while. Gray put his shirt back on and shoved his overcoat into his bag.

At the movement beside her Jade opened her eyes to see Gray sitting beside her looking up at the sky. She sat up and Gray turned to looked at her. Her hair was slightly tousled and her eyes still filled with sleep as she yawned. Over all she was as adorable as a little kitten.

"Hello sleepy head." He said

"Jeez how long were we out?"

"Not too long, but it's almost dark out."

"I see the weather took a turn for the worse while we were sleeping." She said as she looked up.

"Yup, pretty much." As soon as he said that the clouds started emptying themselves on the small village. Jade jumped up with a little yelp, grabbed her stuff and ran for shelter under one of the little huts overhangs. At this Gray laughed. He grabbed his stuff threw it over to Jade under the little hut and charged at her.

"Oh no you don't!" He said as he reached her and flung her over his shoulder carrying her back into the rain.

"Hey! what are you doing? Let me go!" She pleaded as she pounded her small fists into his back.

"Never."

"Gray!" She complained

"Man, you're light! How much do you weigh?" He asked over his shoulder.

"I can't remember, like 98 pounds." Jade replied as she gave in.

"Damn. You're small."

With his last remark she stuck her tongue out at him. Gray laughed. At this point both mages were completely soaked and only got more wet when Gray slipped backwards on the slick grass causing both to fall to the ground and into the mud getting them a little dirty. They both sat up looked at each other and just burst out laughing. Unfortunately their fun was cut short when a shout came from the village.

"They're back!"

At those words the two snapped into action standing up and running to where the plea came from. They came to one of the huts on the more outskirts of the town closest to the edge of the forest. There the thieves all dressed in something green were approaching the clearing through the trees.

"C'mon get into the forest! I'll see if I can block them from getting into the village."

_The moment of truth! _Thought Gray.

Gray charged into the trees while Jade hung back just inside the thicket. Gray looked back as Jade crouched down with her palms flat on the ground. A large green magic insignia appeared on the ground beneath her. Large green vines shot up by the edge of the trees and weaved their way through the trunks leaving no spaces to get through the trees.

"One down one to go!" Shouted Gray as she ran up to join the fight.

She smiled "If you think that's cool you haven't seen anything yet."

They both turned to face the oncoming hoard of bandits.

"There are twenty guys, let's see who can snag the most." Jade said challenging Gray.

"Since when did this turn into a competition?" Gray asked with a mischievous look on his face.

"Since now!" She said just before bolting toward the thieves.

"You're on!" He countered as he followed after her. Jade aimed her hand toward a nearby tree and again using her magic causing a low hanging tree branch to reach down and wrap itself around the two thieves nearest the front trapping them causing the others to scatter.

"Got two of them!" She shouted to Gray.

"Oh ya!" He remarked as he iced three of the guys to the ground. "Well I got three of them!"

"Prepare to be beaten!" She said as seven of the bandits surrounded her. She balled her hands up into fists and put them together in front of her. She closed her eyes in concentration. Another insignia appeared around her clasped together hands, but blue this time. Gray watched in fascination _Wait a minute. It can't be... _He thought. Jade's eyes shot open as four long, greenish ice pikes shot out toward each of her attackers pinning three of the guys to trees and the other four to the ground. Gray stood frozen. _She uses ice magic? __…__Should__'__ve figured, she's just full of surprises. _He pointed out to himself.

"Make that nine!" She yelled. "Damn! The rest of them got away."

Gray snapped his head to the direction she was looking to and noticed the remaining eight guys were hurrying back into the forest.

"You think they'll try again tomorrow night?" Gray questioned.

"There's one way to find out."

"We're staying here tonight aren't we?"

"Yes we are. We're not done until all of the thieves are caught."

"Speaking of which let's get these guys tied up and to the village."

Jade looked at Gray "Caught you off guard with the ice didn't I?"

"Definitely."

"Well it worked then didn't it."

"Huh?"

"There's no way I''m gonna lose a challenge, and if that takes a distraction..." She trailed off.

"You little devil."

She just smiled at him and walked over to the bandits beginning to tie them up with some of her vines.

"These should hold while we get them to the village." She said testing her bindings.

"Ya, ok I'll get these three guys you get those and we'll come back for the rest."

"Or we could just do this." She replied as she iced a strip of land leading to the clearing, then gathering each knocked out bandit bundle of three and placing them on the ice.

"Now do something useful and help me push." She remarked to Gray.

"Oh! ya." As he pushed the thieves across the ice till they reached the village. Jade walked up to Village Head who was standing just in front of his home.

"We've caught twelve out of the twenty bandits. We'll stay here tonight and hope they'll come back tomorrow so we can finish this up." She said to the old man.

"Yes well thank you. Unfortunately we only have a small room for you to rest in." The man replied.

"Oh really that's no problem I'm sure we've slept in worse conditions." She said looking back at Gray.

"Yah, we'll be fine." Gray responded with a smile.

"Well ok then. There's a small hut just on the edge of the clearing you can sleep there for the night." The old man directed them.

"Thank you." Said Jade.

They walked to the small hut on the outskirts of the little village.

"Would you look at that. It's the hut we chucked our stuff under when it started to rain." Jade pointed out.

"And speaking of rain the weather has gotten a lot better." Gray commented.

"Well let's get some sleep." She suggested as she gathered both her and Gray's things and brought them inside. Gray walked in behind her and said thanks as she handed him his stuff. Jade dropped her bag on to the wooded floor and lay her head down on it. Gray sat against a wall just a few feet away, he looked out one of the small windows and noticed a small crescent moon against the pitch, dark night sky.

"Wow it got dark out fast." He said

"Yah, no kidding." Jade said sleepily stifling a yawn.

Gray looked down. There she was looking all vulnerable again, he sighed.

"Good night." He whispered but she was already asleep, so he leant against the wall and shut his eyes drifting to sleep.


End file.
